Chris Lanier's Blog

Hm, is there any difference in quality of encoded mp3 or is it just the same codec but legal version?
I purchase Audioactive Production Studio 2 long time ago which uses the FhG pro and I use it for ripping music CDs.
Is now better to use codec from WMP10 or FhG pro??? (I don't mind the speed of codec, but quality of encoded mp3)

P.S.: I don't want to use another codec (like Lame), because I rely upon Frauenhofer IIS codec.

There have been no formal listening tests yet so old FhG vs. new FhG has not been seen yet. Did that program ship with l3codecp.acm? Do you know the version number and/coypright dates? The only other one I remember is 1.0.0.48 which would not encode above 128kbps. This one was legal, but I never remember seeing it at all.

The Radium Hack (legal version) encodes with a slight 16kHz+ error on one channel (I think it was the left channel). I would *assume* this would have been fixed, but I really don't know.

FhG encoder's are *theoretically* going to be better for encoding lower bitrate (< 128kbps) However at the same time FhG's should also be better for encoding at sampling rate's other then 44.100Hz. For CD audio this is not something to think about.

LAME *will* produce better sound quality at bitrates great then 128kbps in comparison to FhG's.

When some tests are done I will be sure to post them here.

That should say "...The Radium Hack (ILLegal version) encodes ..."

I compared the 2. The new 3.3.0.44 version sounded horrible but was faster in 128kbps, while the old 1.2.0.63 sounded great!

ok

Why can't I use LAME with WMP 10? Why cannot I intsall the FLAC encoder if that is my preference for lossless files? WMP 10 is a great improvement over WMP 9 and something I would use daily if I could use LAME and FLAC. I have to use Exact Audio Copy otherwise. Sure, its not spiffy, but it lets me use the encoder of my choice.

You can't use LAME becuase none of the LAME dev's want to put any development into LAME ACM to fix the memory leak.

You can't encode as FLAC because WMP only supports MP3, if you use an ACM FLAC encoder (is there one?) then WMP will spit out a FLAC encoded file with an MP3 header (i.e. it will only play right in any app). Plus, FLAC doesn't use standard ID3 tags, so WMP can't write tags or display them.

I can see how working on the LAME ACM can be a problem. It seems development of LAME has come to a standstill.

Thanks for clarifying the issue.

That said, I would love to see the WMP team continuing pressure to fix LAME ACM. It will surely make it more attractive.

BTW, is this [1] the LAME ACM that has memory leak issues?

[1] http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-CD-Rippers-Encoders/LAME-ACM-Codec.shtml

Yes. As far as I have heard they don't plan to develop LAME ACM anymore. So, the chances of it ever working are very slim.

I tested using the LAME ACM codec with WMP9 XP by tweaking a few reg keys to have WMP display the choice.

Well it just doesn't work - I see you were talking about a memory leak,
well that sound exactly like it.

It does go through with encoding (except it's quite slow), but when you listen to the file (WMP will open it but not Meda Player Classic with its integrated MP3 decoder for instance), you totally hear conversion went wrong (hence the speed trouble) : the MP3 sounds as if frames were skipped during the encoding process [Memory Leak... :'( ] so it's all skippy and slow. But you still can recognize the song which confirms that if it was not for the Memory Leak, tweaking a few reg keys would do the trick... so please: GET BACK TO WORK LAME GUYS

Hey, so I've ballsed up my system fannying around trying to get the tag 55 codec working, and now the registry server entry point is screwed! How do I get l3codeca.acm to register?

I'm a bit confused here. I didn't realise there was a problem with the LAME ACM codec. I've been using it happily for ages and notice no trouble (currently using the one that came with 3.96.1). Is it just if you try to use it in WMP? I use it in EAC.

why anyone would want to use another over protective crap ms product like wmp to do a real job is beyond me?

1) get off your ass and support an original mp3 ripper like audiograbber (freeware, which also does the precious wma, etc...)!!! http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/download.html

2) next, get the latest Lame here --> http://www.hot.ee/smpman/mp3/ (3.96.1 was the best last time i checked)

3) then, toss your lame dll into the same folder as you installed the app to and tada! you're in biz! (the app supports ACM too)

4) while you're at it... wize up :) and learn to use a nice burner app like NTI (which supports super long file names (Joliet 3 aka Romeo) and make sure you buy hardware that supports level 3 file names and at least ID3 V2 tags (nothing worse than DOS 8.3 names, no subdirectory support and only ID3 V1 tags)

5) and... if for some reason you still feel you need to blow out the preinstalled Fraunhofer 1.9.0.305 "advanced" ACM codec that comes with winduhs and use the new "professional" version that comes with wmp 10... then follow these steps to install it properly...

a) Verify the file l3codecp.acm is in the system after installing wmp 10...
In the Explorer open the folder c:\windows\system32
Ensure that the new file l3codecp.acm exists. (right click properties and look for file version 3.3.0.44)
If it doesn't then you can extract the files that are included in mp10setup.exe by the following command line, without installing the Media Player: mp10setup.exe /T:c:\extract /C

b) Register the codec by setting the following registry keys:

copy & paste the following into notepad and save it as l3codecp.reg (use *.* (any file type), not *.txt)


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32]
"msacm.l3acm"="l3codecp.acm"
"msacm.l3codec"="l3codecp.acm"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc]
"l3codecp.acm"="Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)"


6) finally... if you can, try to remember to say no to monolithic corps like MS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolithic and HAVE FUN!

all the best,
AK

"The Radium Hack (legal version) encodes with a slight 16kHz+ error on one channel (I think it was the left channel). I would *assume* this would have been fixed, but I really don't know."

That's not absolutely true...
Radium uses Fraunhofer 1.2 codec and the problem isn't in the Radium team but in the old version of the codec. The "pure" Fraunhofer 1.2 codec has the same problem and it isn't only with the left channel. :) I assume that's because of some try for encoding frequencies above 16kHz (yes, at 128kbps with this codec I encode frequencies up to ~19-20 kHz). But paying attention to them means using more bits for them. That causes problems with the mids in some cases. I still use this encoder and I like it very much but this is tricky. ;-) First, I analyze the signal and according to that, choose to use v1.2 or 3.3. ;-) If the mids aren't critical, I use 1.2. And all that listen to it say: "I can't believe this is at 128kbps, it sounds like 192 or more!". Otherwise I use version 3.3. Note that problems with the mids disappears completely when encoding at 256kbps.
The idea behind Fraunhofer IIS codecs is to pay attention to high frequencies when they are high enough to be percieved, in comparison to the others. It's a question of psychoacoustics. That's a psychoacoustic model (different from those of the LAME(r) :P ). I like this model and keep using Fraunhofer as my favourite encoder.
It looks like in version 3.3 Fraunhofer IIS made some fine changes and generally it sounds better!

Best regards,
Stone